Eagles Fan Turned Bad...Philly Needs A Change

Look at the picture of Andy Reid, coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, above. Who do you see? Do you see someone who is confident? Someone who has a great team? Someone who knows his team will be there in the playoff race? All I see is an overweight man who is constipated and has lost passion for his team.

I have been an Eagles fan all my life and have never doubted Andy Reid or the rest of his coaching staff for that matter. Brad Childress, now head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, was a masterful offensive coordinator in his time with the Eagles. Andy Reid's crew have drafted amazingly, which has kept the Eagles from plummeting into the very bowels of the NFL power rankings.

This past Sunday was it for me. People have been saying Andy Reid needs to be fired. People have been saying to sit Donovan McNabb on the bench and see what we have in Kevin Kolb, the second string quarterback. I have argued with those people right up until the Philadelphia Eagles tied the 1-8 Cincinnati Bengals in a 13-13 game.

I do not say to sit McNabb, who had four turnovers on his own and who threw 28 completions out of 58 attempts. I do not say fire Andy Reid, who has been the cornerstone of this consistently winning franchise for the past nine years. What i do say, though, is for something to happen.

Andy Reid has never been good at calling offensive plays. He has been known to manage games and get the right players out onto the field. He is good to calm the Philadelphia media, keep his players from doing stupid things in and outside of football, and to help his other staff members do their jobs.

The Eagles have lost four games this season all by seven points or less. What does this mean? It means that if a few more plays were made, the game could have turned out differently. Outcomes could have been changed. The Eagles could be sitting pretty with a record of 8-2 instead of 5-4-1.

With two minutes left in overtime, there was a 4th and 1 in the Bengals territory. If they went for it, they risked turning it over and giving the Bengals the win. By punting, which they did, the Eagles were playing for the tie. They were playing not to lose. They were afraid and had no confidence in getting one yard. If the coach has no confidence in his players, how will his players have confidence in themselves?

The statistics say it all. McNabb threw 58 passes, setting his career record in pass attempts, while Brian Westbrook, the Eagles most versatile and most dynamic player ran the ball just 14 times. The Bengals were fifth in pass defense coming into this game. Normally, teams would run more against this team. Nope, not Andy Reid.

The most incredible statistic in this game were third down conversions for the Eagles. There were 18 3rd down plays during the game. Three were converted. Three out of 18!!! That's 17 percent completion on third down plays! Why didn't they complete more?

Maybe because on every 3rd down, they threw the ball. There were a total of three third and one plays. They threw the ball on all occasions not getting any of them.

The play calling has been absolutely atrocious. My little sister, who knows nothing about football would know to run the ball if all you need is one yard. It isn't tough for a defense to stop an offense if they know they are going to throw the ball every time.

Look at the picture tagged with this article. He looks nervous, afraid, not passionate about winning. That man is the worst play caller in the NFL and should be replaced not as head coach, but as the primary play caller. We need to take risks. We need to shake things up. We need to win games starting right now and Andy Reid is not helping at all.